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Monday, June 12, 2017

Democrats' long knives for Hillary starting to be unsheathed

The Clinton Machine's rivals have had enough of its fundraising hogging and manipulative, conspiratorial ways. There are signs that a vendetta may be developing within the Democratic Party over the candidate's and the Machine's desperate refusal to take responsibility for blowing what was seen as a sure thing victory, thereby cementing the "fundamental transformation" begun by Barack Obama.

Up to now, there have been a few rumblings, but over the weekend, a significant voice spoke out in vivid and memorable language. The struggle is in the open and at a new level of specificity and bitterness.

Van Jones is an actual self-proclaimed communist who served in the Obama White House and now is a CNN contributor. He speaks for many in the party's left wing and is smart and articulate, even if misdirected. Do not underestimate him. He provided the most colorful and resonant attack yet on the Hillary Clinton campaign, hitting not just Hillary, but the Clinton Machine:

"The Hillary Clinton campaign did not spend their money on white workers, and they did not spend it on people of color. They spent it on themselves," Jones told a packed house at McCormick Place in Chicago. "They spent it on themselves, let's be honest."

"Let's be honest," Jones continued. "They took a billion dollars, a billion dollars, a billion dollars, and set it on fire, and called it a campaign!"

"That wasn't a campaign. That's not a campaign."

Jones continued, attacking the Clinton campaign's reliance on consultants and polling data that proved to be wrong.

"A billion dollars for consultants. A billion dollars for pollsters. A billion dollars for a data operation, that was run by data dummies who couldn't figure out that maybe people in Michigan needed to be organized."

He blamed the same forces in the Democratic Party behind the Clinton campaign's defeat for continuing to divide the resistance to President Trump after the election.

"And now they want us to fight about whether black folks or white workers or Latinos or any other group should get the money," Jones said. "First of all, you need to give the money back to the people, period."

"Quit getting rich off people's struggles," Jones finished.

Media friends already warn Democrats of the dangers of a "destructive blame game" – because Republicans are the only ones who are supposed to be riven by internal factional conflict. But Van Jones leaves no doubt that big money is at stake, and the left-race coalition is tired of the Clintons and their hogging.

This is only going to get more entertaining. Face it: an existential threat faces the Clinton Machine. If Hillary is out of the game, future prospects for the hangers-on depend on Chelsea. Turning her into a successful politician (or anything else) will be a herculean labor. She has a lot of items on her C.V., but like Barack Obama, they seem to be titles without notable accomplishments attached to them. Her sole visible work on NBC was an outright embarrassment and sparked resentment among the ranks of working journalists, none of whom could imagine getting such an opportunity with so few qualifications.

The death throes of the Clinton Machine will not end quickly or mercifully.